HB-4786, As Passed House, May 6, 2009

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4786

     A bill to amend 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, entitled

"Michigan employment security act,"

by amending section 28 (MCL 421.28), as amended by 1994 PA 422.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

     Sec. 28. (1) An unemployed individual shall be is eligible to

receive benefits with respect to any week only if the commission

finds that:

     (a) For benefit years established before the conversion date

prescribed in section 75 October 1, 2000, the individual has

registered for work at and thereafter has continued to report at an

employment office in accordance with such the rules as that the

commission may prescribe prescribes and is seeking work. The

requirements that the individual must report at an employment

office, must register for work, must be available to perform

suitable full-time work, and must seek work may be waived by the

commission if the individual is laid off and the employer who laid

the individual off notifies the commission in writing or by

computerized data exchange that the layoff is temporary and that

work is expected to be available for the individual within a

declared number of days, not to exceed 45 calendar days following

the last day the individual worked. This waiver shall not be is not

effective unless the notification from the employer has been

received by the commission before the individual has completed his

or her first compensable week following layoff. If the individual

is not recalled within the specified period, the waiver shall cease

to be operative with respect to that layoff. Except for a period of

disqualification, the requirement that the individual shall seek

work may be waived by the commission where if it finds that

suitable work is unavailable both in the locality where the

individual resides and in those localities in which the individual

has earned base period credit weeks. This waiver shall does not

apply, for weeks of unemployment beginning on or after March 1,

1981, to a claimant enrolled and attending classes as a full-time

student. An individual shall have has satisfied the requirement of

personal reporting at an employment office, as applied to a week in

a period during which the requirements of registration and seeking

work have been waived by the commission pursuant to this

subdivision, if the individual has satisfied the personal reporting

requirement with respect to a preceding week in that period and the

individual has reported with respect to the week by mail in

accordance with the rules promulgated by the commission. For

benefit years established after the conversion date prescribed in

section 75 on or after October 1, 2000, the individual has

registered for work and has continued to report in accordance with

such the rules as the commission may prescribe prescribes and is

seeking work. The requirements that the individual must report,

must register for work, must be available to perform suitable full-

time work, and must seek work may be waived by the commission if

the individual is laid off and the employer who laid the individual

off notifies the commission in writing or by computerized data

exchange that the layoff is temporary and that work is expected to

be available for the individual within a declared number of days,

not to exceed 45 calendar days following the last day the

individual worked. This waiver shall not be is not effective unless

the notification from the employer has been received by the

commission before the individual has completed his or her first

compensable week following layoff. If the individual is not

recalled within the specified period, the waiver shall cease to be

operative with respect to that layoff. Except for a period of

disqualification, the requirement that the individual shall seek

work may be waived by the commission where if it finds that

suitable work is unavailable both in the locality where the

individual resides and in those localities in which the individual

has earned wages during or after the base period. This waiver shall

does not apply to a claimant enrolled in and attending classes as a

full-time student. An individual shall be is considered to have

satisfied the requirement of personal reporting at an employment

office, as applied to a week in a period during which the

requirements of registration and seeking work have been waived by

the commission pursuant to this subdivision, if the individual has

satisfied the personal reporting requirement with respect to a

preceding week in that period and the individual has reported with

respect to the week by mail in accordance with the rules

promulgated by the commission.

     (b) The individual has made a claim for benefits in accordance

with section 32 and has provided the commission with his or her

social security number.

     (c) The individual is able and available to perform suitable

full-time work of a character which that the individual is

qualified to perform by past experience or training; , which is of

a character generally similar to work for which the individual has

previously received wages; , and, except as provided in subsection

(6), for which the individual is available, full time, either at a

locality at which the individual earned wages for insured work

during his or her base period or at a locality where it is found by

the commission finds that such work is available.

     (d) In the event of the death of an individual's immediate

family member, the eligibility requirements of availability and

reporting shall be waived for the day of the death and for 4

consecutive calendar days thereafter. As used in this subdivision,

"immediate family member" means a spouse, child, stepchild, adopted

child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister of the

individual or his or her spouse. It shall also include includes the

spouse of any of the persons specified in the previous sentence.

     (e) The individual participates in reemployment services, such

as job search assistance services, if the individual has been

determined or redetermined by the commission to be likely to

exhaust regular benefits and need reemployment services pursuant to

a profiling system established by the commission.

     (2) The commission may authorize an individual with an

unexpired benefit year to pursue vocational training or retraining

only if the commission finds that:

     (a) Reasonable opportunities for employment in occupations for

which the individual is fitted by training and experience do not

exist in the locality in which the individual is claiming benefits.

     (b) The vocational training course relates to an occupation or

skill for which there are, or are expected to be in the immediate

future, reasonable employment opportunities.

     (c) The training course has been approved by a local advisory

council on which both management and labor are represented, or if

there is no local advisory council, by the commission.

     (d) The individual has the required qualifications and

aptitudes to complete the course successfully.

     (e) The vocational training course has been approved by the

state board of education and is maintained by a public or private

school or by the commission.

     (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, an

otherwise eligible individual shall not be ineligible for benefits

because he or she is participating in training with the approval of

the commission or in a job training program authorized under the

workforce investment act of 1998, Public Law 105-220. For each week

that the commission finds that an individual who is claiming

benefits under this act and who is participating in training with

the approval of the commission, is satisfactorily pursuing an the

approved course of vocational or authorized training, it shall

waive the requirements that he or she be available for work and be

seeking work as prescribed in subsection (1)(a) and (c), and it

shall find good cause for his or her failure to apply for suitable

work, report to a former employer for an interview concerning

suitable work, or accept suitable work as required in section

29(1)(c), (d), and (e).

     (4) The waiver of the requirement that a claimant seek work,

as provided in subsection (1)(a), shall not be applicable does not

apply to weeks of unemployment for which the claimant is claiming

extended benefits if section 64(8)(a)(ii) 64(7)(a)(ii) is in effect,

unless the individual is participating in training approved by the

commission.

     (5) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this act, an

otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits for any

week beginning after October 30, 1982 solely because the individual

is in training approved under section 236(a)(1) of the trade act of

1974, as amended, 19 U.S.C. USC 2296, nor shall the individual be

denied benefits by reason of leaving work to enter such that

training if the work left is not suitable employment. Furthermore,

an otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits

because of the application to any such week in training of

provisions of this act, or any applicable federal unemployment

compensation law, relating to availability for work, active search

for work, or refusal to accept work. For purposes of this

subsection, "suitable employment" means, with respect to an

individual, work of a substantially equal or higher skill level

than the individual's past adversely affected employment, as

defined for purposes of the trade act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. USC 2101

to 2495, and wages for that work at not less than 80% of the

individual's average weekly wage as determined for the purposes of

the trade act of 1974.

     (6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, for

benefit years beginning after January 1, 2010, if a majority of the

weeks of work in an individual's base period include part-time

work, an otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits

for any week solely because of 1 or more of the following:

     (a) The individual is available only for part-time work.

     (b) The individual is seeking only part-time work.

     (c) The individual refuses an offer of full-time work.

     (7) Subsection (6) does not remove the disqualification for

benefits that applies under section 29(1) if a person voluntarily

leaves part-time work.

     (8) For purposes of this section, during an individual's base

period "part-time work" means work that is less than 40 hours in a

calendar week. During an individual's benefit year, "part-time

work" means work that is not less than 16 hours but is less than 40

hours in a calendar week and is comparable in the number of hours

in a calendar week to the number of hours of work in a majority of

calendar weeks of work in the individual's base period.

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect

unless House Bill No. 4785 of the 95th Legislature is enacted into

law.